Garment with integrated cleaning elements

ABSTRACT

A garment is disclosed. The garment includes a body portion and at least one sleeve. The at least one sleeve includes at least one seam connecting opposing longitudinal edges of the sleeve. The at least one seam is not located on an underside of the sleeve.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to clothing and garments for children, e.g., toddlers and infants. The disclosure more particularly relates to a romper with integrated cleaning elements for wiping surfaces of any kind.

BACKGROUND

Taking care of children is a time consuming task, which begins at the latest with the child's birth. While for most parents, this translates into a mere reduction of the time spent on their hobbies, others try to compensate it with developments of the most recent advances in technology. There exists a myriad of possibilities to save time, ranging from robotic machinery to distance shopping from bed or work. Even though these are all viable methods, they are by no means entertaining nor involving the children.

At the same time, people are often confronted with the choice of a suitable gift for children of their friends, colleagues, and relatives. There are choices of presents ultimately involving the children having a lot of fun. Some of these gift require the parents to spend a lot of time with the children. Other gifts keep the offspring busy playing on their own.

There are very few products directly associated with infants which also grant the parents some time for a break. One example is a garment with integrated cleaning elements, e.g. a romper with mops. Such a garment fulfills both needs at the same time, involving the children and giving the parents some time to rest. Once given to children, they will all by themselves start cleaning floors. The parents do not only get a peaceful break but also floors free of dust and hair.

A garment with cleaning elements can be made in many ways. Cleaning elements are often attached to the garment using adhesive, e.g. glue. However, this method not only raises questions about the durability of the attached cleaning elements, it also poses safety and health concerns, particularly if the glue is inhaled or swallowed by the children. Therefore, sewing the cleaning elements onto the garment is preferable over the use of adhesives.

As the cleaning elements are to clean floors, they need to be located on the underside of the garment. Attaching the cleaning elements by sewing them onto the underside of the garment's sleeve poses a challenge. After completion of the garment, conventional sewing machines cannot be used as the sleeve's diameter is too narrow. Furthermore, sewing by hand cannot be used either as adult sewer's hands are typically larger in diameter than a garment targeted at children, especially infants. Attaching the cleaning elements before forming the sleeve is only feasible as long as they do not cover the sleeve's seam. In conventional garments, where the seam is on the sleeve's underside, the cleaning elements could therefore not continuously cover the sleeve's underside.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to clothing and garments for children, e.g., toddlers and infants. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a romper with integrated cleaning elements for wiping surfaces of any kind.

A garment is disclosed. The garment includes a body portion and at least one sleeve. The at least one sleeve includes at least one seam, which connects opposing longitudinal edges of the sleeve and is not located on an underside of the sleeve.

In one embodiment, a romper is disclosed. The romper includes at least one sleeve having opposing longitudinal edges and a seam connecting the opposing longitudinal edges. The seam is not located on an underside of the sleeve.

In yet another embodiment, a method for making a garment is disclosed. The method includes the steps of (a) joining opposing longitudinal edges of a piece of foldable material to form a sleeve having a first circumference and a second circumference, wherein the joint comprises a seam of the sleeve, and (b) attaching the first circumference of the sleeve to a body portion, wherein the seam of the sleeve is not located on an underside of the sleeve.

The present disclosure is a method of making a garment with integrated cleaning elements on the underside of the garment's sleeve. The method overcomes the need of using adhesive to attach cleaning elements to the underside of the garment's sleeve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the disclosure. In the following description, various embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the following:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of an embodiment of the garment;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of an embodiment of the garment;

FIG. 3 shows a back view of an embodiment of the garment;

FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of the garment;

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of the garment with named sewing joints; and

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a sewing sequence for making the garment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments generally relate to a garment and a method of making thereof. More particularly, the embodiments relate to a garment having integrated cleaning elements. The garment may be used to clean surfaces of any kind. The garment may be a single-piece or two-piece garment. It may cover the upper body and the arms fully or partially. It may also cover the hands, the lower body, the legs, and the feet.

The present disclosure overcomes the lack of a method to easily construct a garment with integrated cleaning elements. The sewing pattern and sewing sequence allows the cleaning elements to be integrated easily on the underside of a garment's sleeve during the making of the garment.

The dimensions of the garment may vary based upon the anatomy of the wearer. No dimension should be considered limiting but merely exemplary. While the garment is mainly intended for infants between 3 and 18 months of age, the garment may also be sized for adults, for example, for holding cleaning competitions at parties. For the purpose of explanation, dimensions given herein are based on infants between 3 and 18 months of age with a height between about 50 cm and about 90 cm.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure and in order to meet statutory written description, enablement, and best-mode requirements. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without the specific exemplary details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified to clarify the description of the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, and thereby better explain the present disclosure. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, certain method steps are delineated as separate steps, however, these separately delineated steps should not be construed as necessarily order dependent in their performance.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 show a front, side and back view of an embodiment of the garment, respectively. The romper 100 may include a body portion 102 for receiving the torso of a wearer. The body portion 102 may be cylindrical in shape with a circular cross-section having a radius between 5 cm and 15 cm. The body portion 102 may extend from the neck opening 104 to the crotch 118, with a length between about 35 cm and about 55 cm.

The romper 100 may include an opening for the convenience and easy access of the wearer. The opening may be on the front, as in this embodiment, or on the back. The front opening 102 a runs from the neck opening 104 down the body portion 102 and further down one of the legs to the foot coverings 112 or any part thereof. The front opening 102 a may be provided with fastening mechanisms such as zippers, snaps, magnetic snaps, clasps, clips, buttons, buckles, ties, laces, or pairs of hook-and-loop fastening material (e.g., VELCRO). Alternatively, the romper 100 may be without a front opening. For example, the romper 100 may be made fully or partially of stretchable material to allow easy access of the wearer.

The left and right sleeves 106 may be attached to the body portion 102 of the romper 100. The sleeves 106 may start from the shoulder and extend outwards away from the body portion 102. The sleeves 106 may be of any length. In one embodiment, the sleeves 106 may have end openings for the hands 106 a at the distal ends. Alternatively, the sleeves 106 may lead into hand coverings. For long sleeves, the length may be from about 20 cm to about 30 cm.

The romper 100 may incorporate a left and a right leg 108. The front opening 102 a may extend along one or both of the legs 108 for easy access of the wearer. This extension of the front opening 102 a may be along an inseam 110. The extension of the front opening 102 a may be provided with the same or a different fastening mechanism as for the front opening 102 a itself. The legs 108 may start at the crotch 118 and extend downwards away from the body portion 102. They may be of any length. The legs 108 may have foot coverings 112 on the distal ends, which may be from about 5 cm to about 15 cm in length. Alternatively, the legs 108 may have openings for the feet. For legs 108 covering the entire legs of the wearer, the length may be from about 15 cm to about 25 cm.

The romper 100 may include one or more cleaning elements. In one embodiment, cleaning elements 114 may be attached to one or both of the sleeves 106. In another embodiment, cleaning elements 116 may be attached to the legs 108. The cleaning elements may also be attached to any other part of the romper 100 such as anywhere on the body portion 102 or anywhere on the foot coverings 112.

The cleaning elements may have properties more suitable than those of the garment material to clean surfaces of any kind. The cleaning elements may be capable of absorbing large quantities of liquids, e.g., water and oil. In addition, the cleaning elements may be capable of attracting and holding fine particles such as dust. The cleaning elements may also be capable of reducing the number of bacteria. Furthermore, the cleaning elements may have electrostatic properties.

In one embodiment, the cleaning elements may be a piece of foldable material. The piece may be of any shape. The piece may be rectangular or follow the shape of the romper 100. The cleaning elements may also be a plurality of pieces of foldable material of any shape. The plurality of pieces of foldable material may be arranged in a pattern, for example a square array or a circular array. Providing the plurality of pieces of foldable material in other patterns may also be useful.

The cleaning elements may be sewn on top of the garment material, where the cleaning elements do not substitute material of the garment. In another embodiment, the garment material may have one or more cut-outs. The cleaning elements may be of the shape of the cut-outs. The size of the cleaning elements may be the same size as the cut-outs or larger. The cleaning elements may be sewn onto the garment material to substantially cover the cut-outs. In yet another embodiment, the cleaning elements may replace one or more pieces of the garment material entirely. For example, the sleeves 106 may be entirely made of the material of the cleaning elements.

The garment material may be made of a material including but not limited to natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, leather, polyester, polyamide, rayon, acetate, olefin, or combinations thereof. The cleaning elements may be made of a material including but not limited to natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, silk, polyester, polyamide, rayon, sponge, terry cloth, chenille fabric, microfiber fabric, or combinations thereof.

FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of an embodiment of the garment with its construction from the individual pieces. The arrows indicate where the individual pieces of the garment will be located. For the foot coverings 112 and the legs 108, the attachment of the individual pieces follows methods used in the construction of conventional clothing. Any suitable method may be used. For the upper part of the romper 100, there are differences in the construction between the embodiment of the present disclosure and conventional clothing.

The sleeves 106 of the romper 100 may include a left piece 400 for the left and a right piece 402 for the right sleeve. The body portion 102 and the legs 108 may be made of a left front panel 404, a right front panel 406, as well as a back panel 408. In alternative embodiment, the body portion 102 may be made of one single piece, which is a flat piece with a front opening 102 a or of cylindrical shape without a front opening. The foot coverings 112 may be made of an upper panel 410 and a lower panel 412 for the left foot, as well as an upper panel 414 and a lower panel 416 for the right foot.

In this embodiment, all pieces may be made of the garment material, with cleaning elements of a different material sewn onto them. The left piece 400 and the right piece 402 of the two sleeves 106 may include two different materials, the garment material 418 and the material of the cleaning elements 420. In this embodiment, the back panel 408 may not be provided with any cleaning elements and may include only the garment material. The left front panel 404 and the right front panel 406 may include the garment material 422 and the material of the cleaning elements 424. In this embodiment, the foot coverings 410, 412, 414, and 416 may be made entirely of the garment material.

FIG. 5 shows the individual pieces of the romper 100 as described with reference to FIG. 4 with labels for the edges of the parts to be sewn together. A left primary edge 500 a of the left front panel 404 may be joined along the midaxillary line with a left primary edge 500 b of the back panel 408. The seam joining the left sleeve 106 and the body portion 102 may include a left secondary edge 510 a of the left front panel 404 and a proximal front edge 510 b of the left sleeve 400. The seam may further join the left secondary edge 512 a of the back panel 408 with a corresponding proximal rear edge 512 b of the left sleeve 400. The sleeve may be closed by joining or connecting opposing longitudinal edges 520 a and 520 b together. This seam may continue into a shoulder seam joining an upper edge 522 a of the left front panel 404 and an upper edge 522 b of the back panel 408.

The lower panel of the feet 412 may be attached to the back panel 408 by joining a first bottom edge 530 a of the back panel 408 and the rear edge 530 b of the lower panel of the feet 412. The upper panel of the feet 410 may be attached to the front panel 404 by a seam including a second bottom edge 532 a of the front panel 404 and a second rear edge 532 b of the upper panel of the feet 410. The feet may be formed by joining a front foot edge 534 a of the upper panel of the feet 410 and a front foot edge 534 b of the lower panel of the feet 412. Due to the symmetry of the garment, the seams on the right side are analogous to the seams on the left side. For easy access of the wearer, the body portion 102 and the legs 108 may be open along the front opening 102 a and the inseam 110, respectively, and may be fastened by any fastening mechanism.

Unlike conventional clothing, the sleeves are not formed by sewing the opposed edges together on the underside of the sleeve. Instead, the opposed edges are sewn together on the upper side of the sleeve. Hence, the seam forming the sleeves is connecting to the shoulder seam rather than to the seam along the midaxillary line. The underside of the sleeve is the side facing towards the body when the arm is clinging to the body, i.e. the side connecting to the armpit. The upper side of the sleeve is the side facing away from the body when the arm is clinging to the body, i.e. the side connecting to the shoulder.

In conventional garments, the seams on the sleeve are located on the underside, where they are least visible. This does not allow sewing the cleaning elements onto the underside of the sleeve before nor after forming the sleeve. If cleaning elements are sewn onto the sleeve before joining the opposite edges, the cleaning elements would cover the opposite edges and thus inhibit sewing them together. The cleaning elements can neither be sewn onto the sleeve after forming the sleeve as the diameter is too narrow to allow an easy attachment of the cleaning elements by sewing.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a sewing sequence of the romper 100, which may be turned inside-out during sewing and is shown as a romper 100 with the wrong-side-out 600. Like conventional garments, the romper 100 may be sewn inside-out to have the raw seams hidden when worn. Therefore, the cleaning elements are facing the inside during sewing and are thus not visible in this figure.

The sewing sequence depicted in FIG. 6 may start with sewing the front and the back panel 408 together along the midaxillary line, beginning at the foot coverings 112 and going all the way up to the armpit as shown by arrow A. Then, the sleeve may be sewn onto the body portion 102 by sewing along the sleeve's circumference as shown by arrow B. Subsequently, the sleeve may be formed through the seam starting at the sleeve's distal end going up to its proximal end. This seam may be continued into the shoulder seam joining the body portion's front panel 404 and back panel 408 as shown by arrow C.

While this is one embodiment of a sewing sequence, the directions of steps A, B, and C may be reversed. Furthermore the order of the three steps may be reversed, or even a completely different sequence may be used. If necessary, collars, cuffs, and borders of other openings may be hemmed before, during, or after attaching the sleeves 106 to the body portion 102. In addition, the forming of feet coverings may be carried out before, during, or after attaching the sleeves 106 to the body portion 102. Upon completion, the romper 100 is turned right-side-out, ready to be worn.

The disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The foregoing embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects illustrative rather than limiting the disclosure described herein. Scope of the disclosure is thus indicated by the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims are intended to be embraced therein. 

1. A garment comprising: a body portion; and at least one sleeve comprising at least one seam connecting opposing longitudinal edges of the sleeve, wherein the at least one seam is not located on an underside of the sleeve.
 2. The garment of claim 1, wherein one or more cleaning elements cover at least part of the underside of the sleeve.
 3. The garment of claim 1, wherein the garment comprises one or more cut-outs located at part of the underside of the sleeve, and wherein one or more cleaning elements substantially cover the cut-outs.
 4. The garment of claim 1, wherein at least one seam is located on the upper side of the sleeve.
 5. The garment of claim 4, wherein one or more cleaning elements cover at least part of the underside of the sleeve.
 6. The garment of claim 4, wherein the garment comprises one or more cut-outs located at part of the underside of the sleeve, and wherein one or more cleaning elements substantially cover the cut-outs.
 7. The garment of claim 1, wherein the garment material comprises natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, leather, polyester, polyamide, rayon, acetate, olefin, or combinations thereof.
 8. The garment of claim 2, wherein the cleaning elements comprises natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, silk, polyester, polyamide, rayon, sponge, terry cloth, chenille fabric, microfiber fabric, or combinations thereof.
 9. The garment of claim 3, wherein the cleaning elements comprises natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, silk, polyester, polyamide, rayon, sponge, terry cloth, chenille fabric, microfiber fabric, or combinations thereof.
 10. The garment of claim 4, wherein the garment material comprises natural fibers, man-made fibers, cotton, wool, leather, polyester, polyamide, rayon, acetate, olefin, or combinations thereof.
 11. A romper comprising: at least one sleeve comprising opposing longitudinal edges; and at least one seam connecting the opposing longitudinal edges, wherein the seam is not located on an underside of the sleeve.
 12. The romper of claim 11, wherein one or more cleaning elements cover at least part of the underside of the sleeve.
 13. The romper of claim 11, wherein the romper comprises one or more cut-outs located at part of the underside of the sleeve, and wherein one or more cleaning elements substantially cover the cut-outs.
 14. The romper of claim 11, wherein at least one seam is located on the upper side of the sleeve.
 15. The romper of claim 14, wherein one or more cleaning elements cover at least part of the underside of the sleeve.
 16. The romper of claim 14, wherein the romper comprises one or more cut-outs located at part of the underside of the sleeve, and wherein one or more cleaning elements substantially cover the cut-outs.
 17. A method for making a garment comprising the steps of: (a) joining opposing longitudinal edges of a piece of foldable material to form a sleeve having a first circumference and a second circumference, wherein the joint comprises a seam of the sleeve; and (b) attaching the first circumference of the sleeve to a body portion, wherein the seam of the sleeve is not located on an underside of the sleeve.
 18. The method of claim 17 the step (a) is performed prior to step (b).
 19. The method of claim 17 the step (b) is performed prior to step (a).
 20. The method of claim 17 further comprising joining the front and the back panel together along the midaxillary line. 